The Fitbit Ionic has been issued with a voluntary recall. This after the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the US received an estimated 174 reports of the wearable overheating and burning users in some instances.

Some reports even made mention of second and third-degree burns for users in the US. This issue was not isolated to North America either, with a reported 40 incidents noted outside the region involving burning and the Fitbit Ionic.

This has resulted in a voluntary recall of a device that sold between 2017 and 2020, so there is no concern about any new devices on the market currently, but those who do own one now have a solution should they be experiencing an overheating issue.

“Fitbit, in conjunction with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), announced a voluntary recall of Fitbit Ionic smartwatches, which the company introduced in 2017 and stopped producing in 2020. The battery in the Ionic smartwatch can overheat, posing a burn hazard,” the Google-owned company noted in a statement.

“The health and safety of Fitbit users is our highest priority. We are taking this action out of an abundance of caution for our users. We will offer a refund to Fitbit Ionic customers,” it added.

We have reached out to Fitbit’s South African representation and it has advised that the Fitbit Ionic recall landing page does have the option for those in SA to register their device.

“Users in South Africa who have an impacted Fitbit Ionic device should stop using their device and visit the dedicated webpage at help.fitbit.com/ionic to receive a refund,” the representative confirmed.

You will be requested to input the model number of your Ionic and should it yield a FB503 code, you will be eligible to receive a refund.

For a brand that has a fairly solid track record when it comes to this kind of thing, it is not a good look. Luckily though, there should not be any new Ionic devices in circulation among retailers.